The Scruffy City Blog

Free idea for UT's Events Committee

2009-10-27T21:51:00.002-04:00

Apparently Chris Hitchens was in town, speaking at the UC on UT campus. Unfortunately, the university underestimated the enormous crowd that would appear and many unhappy campers couldn't see him speak.

So how about an overflow area or feed -- even a PPV one online? You could raise some money, raise awareness, etc. Perhaps rules of a lecture circuit prohibit this.

Of course, UT could flip the idea. Bring in people who don't usually do lecture circuits, and broadcast their talks online, ala TED.

Just an idea.

Great talk about interviewing with Channel 6

2009-10-08T21:42:00.002-04:00

If you haven't already, check out Justusleeg.com, who put together a tweetup last night at the Downtown Brewery. A couple of anchors from channel 6, WATE were there; Gene Patterson and Kristin Farley, along with another gentleman whose name I didn't get.

Anyway, they gave a great, informal talk about interviewing. I spent 2 years in journalism at UT in the 90's and not once did we discuss this stuff. It was great. Thanks to Patrick and Brian and the gang for doing cool stuff!

No Google Wave for me, here's why

2009-10-02T01:23:00.003-04:00

A couple of years ago I traveled to Google's HQ in famed Silicon Valley (actually Mountain View, CA). My traveling companion and I had gorged ourselves at a place in front of Apple, then been treated to a big meal at Yahoo, and were simply stuffed. When we got to Google, they offered us juice. We declined.

So I declined the Google juice. I think they took offense. Thus, despite having some pretty compelling reasons to test Wave, not only did I not get an invite, I can't even get the invites people who DID get invites are trying to send (in my gmail, of course).

Figures. Next time I'll drink the damn juice.

Lemme tell you about government health care...

2009-09-25T07:36:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I took my son, little brother and his friend to the Knox County Health Department on Dameron Ave. to get flu shots. Well, in fact, since everyone else was 18 or younger, they got the flu mist (now in short supply) and I got a shot. Ow.

So we rolled in with no appointment and were done within 2 hours. Yeah, that's a long wait, but honestly not too much worse than some of the waits I've had at my regular doctor. And yes, I have private insurance through my employer that is totally awesome.

Instead of going to my regular doctor I went to the county. Why? It was easier. Read on.

Try getting college kids excited about a flu vaccination. Or my littlest son, who has already had a taste of the Dark Side of medical treatment. He's a trooper with shots, however, getting 4 immunizations over a month ago with nary a tear. He and I and my brother all got in a room and were done within minutes. This was after a long wait, but again, we all rolled in off the street with no appointment, and close to closing time at that.

In the waiting room I saw people from all walks of life. Young, old, with lots of kids with no kids, seemingly well off and those clearly not so monied. And there we sat, waiting for the government to distribute a vaccination. To some, this scene must send chills up their spine. I mean, here's the very worst of their fears come to life, yes? Affordable, available health care to anyone wiling to show up.

Yes, only in America would we protest our ability to share. Only here, in the most bountiful and powerful nation-state seen in the past 1,000 years, would we have people so obsessed and fearful of losing even one dollar to the unwashed peasants. Heck, we've gone so far in some cases as to rationalize greed with Christianity.

But really, what would Jesus do? Would he say that if you are poor you really just don't deserve medical coverage? Would he say that it is stealing to share the medical risk in a larger pool? Would he say that insurance and medicine works just fine as it is right now, no worries, the free market will figure it out, and move on? I doubt it. My understanding of Jesus' message was love and inclusion, not one of hoarding, exclusion and greed.

Anyway, my point: government can do good things. There's no rule that says government screws everything up. Guess what? Most of our country still functions THANKS to our Federal government. Is it perfect? Show me anything made by people that is perfect. None of us walked out as Nazis or socialists, thank you. I still believe in a free market!

Here's the thing: no plan I've seen thus far addresses the issue of scarcity. The fear is we'll all be subject to long waits. Well, we need more doctors. We can't get more until we improve education AND cap malpractice lawsuits. I'm a big consumer advocate but lawsuits are driving up the cost of insurance, which drives up the cost of being a doctor, which drives up scarcity and cost. In my opinion the lynchpin to solving this mess is fixing scarcity and the insurance cost. At that point the government can take a big step back... But it can always remain an option of last resort for those who can't help themselves. Would Jesus turn those people away?

Fake News Headlines

2009-09-22T09:13:00.000-04:00

Something I did for fun...

Natural forces irritate thousands, harm only a handful

Politician noted for wrongdoing

What your health won't tell you but our Google search will

One group of people object to something another group finds acceptable

Creepy guy said and did a lot of crazy stuff, say investigators

Pseudo-celeb marries athlete while genocide occurs on the other side of the world

TV information that is relevant to bored people

True crime story!

Sport involves one team beating the other in points-making

Movie actor has largely forgotten what it was like to struggle to pay his cell phone bill

Know what else Hitler did?

2009-08-19T09:41:00.002-04:00

There's a lot of comparison to Hitler and Obama these days because Hitler happened to enact socialist reforms in post WWI Germany (he wasn't the only one, but let's ignore the bulk of the facts for now as is common these days). But you know what else Hitler was besides a dreaded SOCIALIST? Even worse: he was a dictator.

What happens in a dictatorship? Well, look to Iran, North Korea and other dictatorships around the world (Venezuela is coming up fast in the ranks). What they aim to do is this:
1) Limit or prohibit free press
2) Limit or prohibit alternatives to their governance

So when people from 2001-2008 said it was "unpatriotic" to criticize the war, the government or the president, I say that PROHIBITING such criticism by means of intimidation (which is happening on the streets of Venezuela today) and flag-waving is very un-American. If you wave the flag, you gotta take the heat. It's the American way.

Also, when people act like their side can't win if the other doesn't completely lose I say this behavior is un-American. We are a nation built on the idea that many different people can live together in some manner of civility. We are looking at the beginnings of a new civil war if we continue to say that the other side "must be crushed" or completely eliminated.

Really? A one party system? Look gang, the USSR fell in my lifetime and I happen to remember what a one-party system looks like. It's COMMUNISM, boogabooga!

But seriously, as Americans we need to elevate the debate. Rise above the fear and get the facts. Quit acting like the other side is out to deliberately destroy America somehow. We're all here, we're all in this together, and we may differ on what to do but that doesn't mean we shouldn't continue to press forward.

F. Scott Fitzgerald once said,
“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.”

Maybe someday we'll get there.

Kris Kendrick dies

2009-05-05T20:05:00.002-04:00

Mr. Kendrick had an impact in my life because of the work he did. He once allowed us to make a movie in a location I didn't think would be possible to get. He believed in downtown. And of course, I once partied my butt off at the Lord Lindsey. He will be missed.

Here's the story on KnoxNews.

Google's Ivory Tower

2009-04-29T06:17:00.002-04:00

I've visited Google. Everyone seemed really nice. But trust me when I say that their Mountain View, CA headquarters reminded me of the Dharma Project in 2 ways:
1. There's a cultish sort of feel to the campus. Matching (free) bikes to ride, a sense of community and a voracious appetite for juice.
2. They are isolated from the "real world"

On #2 there I'd say Google has little to no capacity for understanding a site like dirtyert.com ... and I'm hoping their inability to understand the situation is what is currently holding up our AdSense account.

You see, I am helping a friend with setting up a blog -- something many Americans are turning to in this economy. Ert has no employment prospects where he lives. Even the jobs at McDonald's have a waiting line 40 people deep. It is bad, but Ert has a lifetime of amazing experiences and a great way of telling a tale that (I think, as do many of our old friends) could make him some coin.

But maybe not with the #1 contextual ad server, eh? AdSense, a service I once touted as the easiest to use, is a steaming pile of shit. We applied and never got an initial email. What does that mean? Well, it means you'll never be able to do anything with that account. Seriously. You can't ask to resend it, you can't even log in. Trying to do so yield this gem:
Account Not Active

An AdSense account does not exist for this login, as your application is currently in review. Within a week of your application date, we'll review your application and follow-up with you via email. Once you are approved to join AdSense, you'll be able to log in to your account and get started.

So... our account doesn't exist, but it IS under review. Huh? Further, it's been 3 weeks and still no follow-up. Until we get that initial email, we are totally sunk. Way to kick a man while he's down, Google. Do no evil means more than just running your shop in a semi-craptastic way, you know? Being "less evil" than the rest doesn't equal doing NO evil...

I plan to visit in June and kick a little juice-drinking hippie ass if I have to.

This just in: AP bungles embeds in beds of own tilling

2009-04-09T14:03:00.001-04:00

This one is for my homies at WTNQ-FM

Dirty Ert is live

2009-04-06T23:52:00.001-04:00

My friend Ert is out of work but full of stories. Check him out on his site, DirtyErt.com

Freddy Freeloader

2009-04-03T17:09:00.002-04:00

So I managed to catch a Tweet from local UberBlogger Brandon Clarke:
"Uncle Sam, just stuck it to me, thanks freeloaders!"

I found it kinda funny, but then I thought: well, I didn't pay taxes, did I? In fact, I have all the necessary deductions, etc. being painfully extracted from my paycheck every month. This year, like many years previous, I got some of that money back. Am I a freeloader? Is my stay-at-home wife and mother of 2 kids a freeloader? Let's see.

I work at home, which means nothing in terms of workload. A light week for me is 50 hours. A typical week is 60+. A "crazy" week has me sleeping about 4 hours a night -- maybe.

In addition to my full-time day job I am learning how to program the iPhone, starting a business doing mobile development. I've been making the rounds helping others out in new business endeavors and forging some cool deals I think will some day amount to healthy businesses. Yeah, I do this when I could be sleeping, eating government cheese or standing in line for welfare, I guess.

I got a call recently from a friend of mine who is unemployed. He is collecting unemployment not because he is lazy -- he's one of the hardest working, most sincere people I've ever met -- but because he managed a metal scrap yard that went under due to the crash in the scrap metals industry. The particular business he helped manage also helped rehabilitate a number of drug users. The business was sound, but fell silent due to the economy. Anyway, I'm helping him get a blog and new career moving. We're both going to be lazy mooches off the government now!

And then there's my clearly lazy wife -- the one who pays no taxes and contributes "nothing" to society. Yes, she donates her leisure time to our nation's overabundant public schools. You know, the ones overflowing with parents who wish to help build a better tomorrow? Yeah, she's helping raise YOUR kids over there, and doing a great job of it. Good thing kids raise themselves, what with the internet and all. When she's not at the school she's busy around the house making sure our kids don't grow up to be wards of the state in some form or another. It used to be called parenting, and now it is called freeloading.

So thanks for the money, hard-working Americans! I used our tax rebate to pay some guys to come re-roof our house. I didn't spend it on Chinese-manufactured consumer electronics that we'd just trash in 2 years. I guess that's a bad idea, right? I mean, how could paying local laborers for an honest day's work be worthwhile to anyone?

Now, back to my McMansion to sup on the sweat of the proletariat.

The high cost of basic education

2009-03-04T09:24:00.003-05:00

The call for the past 10 years or more has been "get a college degree or you won't be employable." That's partly true, of course. There are more jobs every day that require a college degree. At one point in the history of the world you didn't need a degree to be a designer, for example. Good luck getting a design job now without a degree. Even with amazing skills there's something about that piece of paper that really is like a "golden ticket" for a shot at success.

But of course, there's the cost. In theory, you can pay this cost back. Education IS an investment, and if you look at all other investments, it is likely the safest, most sure way to get your money back plus a ton of interest. However, is there a point at which an education becomes TOO expensive?

The rise of internet connectivity has led to a huge rise in online education. Remember when the actress who played Archie Bunker's daughter was selling degrees from home? Yeah, those were on VHS. Today you can attend any one of a dozen online schools and get everything up to a PhD!

Unfortunately, the cost of these schools is prohibitive. I guess that's the price of convenience, right? Maybe not.

You see, many of these online schools are for-profit schools. I don't begrudge them making a profit, but I do question the level at which they do this, and at what cost to their students?

I'll have more to say on this later, but consider... What does the average CAD operator make? $10-15 an hour? Now, consider that a financed 2-year associates' degree in CAD from our local ITT Tech would cost around $250,000.

Local guys on the iTunes App Store

2009-02-05T23:29:00.002-05:00

Local developer Philip Kirkham and I have published our first application for the iPhone and iPod touch: The Love Teller (that link takes you to the iTunes store). It's great for Valentine's Day, as it simulates the "Love Tester" coin-op machines from yesteryear. Plus, there's a special trick inside...

The more I look the more I find amazing tech folks here in Knoxville (and surrounding areas). Such a far cry from what I thought growing up: that no one with any love of technology could live in the South, let alone East TN. But as with so many youthful preconceived notions, this one was quickly dispelled.

One more reason to love Knoxville! Oh, and Philip has an iPhone app for Vols football and Vols basketball -- you should check those out too.

Enjoy Fall

2008-11-10T14:14:00.002-05:00

It only comes once a year! Lately the skies have turned a glorious shade of blue, the trees are on "Full Vol" orange, plus a dizzying array of reds, browns and yellows. Best yet, the temperatures around this time of year are perfect sweater weather. That is, you wear a sweater in the morning and you're sweating by the afternoon, ha!

Actually, can anyone believe it's still so warm this close to Thanksgiving?

GO VOTE!

2008-11-04T08:52:00.002-05:00

I've been absent far too long due to work business and starting a side business developing iPhone apps. But no matter what side you're on, please go vote. A lot of amazing folks fought very hard at the highest risk to give us this right -- so exercise your right to choose your political representatives!

Lemony Spigot's Series of Unfortunate Events

2008-09-16T08:37:00.002-04:00

I managed to fill up both cars this week with $3.70-ish a gallon gas. How? By paying attention. You see, Ike wasn't exactly a surprise (hey look maw, weather radars!). And by now folks should realize there are a lot of oil derricks and refineries along the Texas, Louisiana coastline. But when FEMA and others were using words like "certain death" I knew something was gonna happen. Within two hours of my filling up our minivan the price per gallon for regular had gone from under $4 to $4.49.

So what? Well, panic struck Knoxville. Fearing shortages, a number of people went crazy and started filling up their Canyoneros and lawnmowers. Hey folks, guess what: when you make a resource scarce, the price goes up. It is called supply and demand. I didn't realize the full implications of this until some good ol' Twitter friends pointed out a couple of things:
1. We're at the end of the Galveston pipeline, so once everyone else has had a drink, we get the dregs (oversimplifying, but the key is we're USED to getting oil from that area)
2. As a result, we had to buy more expensive "Yankee" gas from the Northeast region. Damn Yankees! (I kid)
3. The panic-buying simply drove up the cost and caused minor shortages and outages in various places. Call it the stupid tax.

You can read a more detailed telling of what's going on at Shots Across the Bow, a terrific local blog.

I had half-jokingly expressed my shock at TN not investigating price-gouging and Scott and Lissa pointed out there's no gouging. True, the rise in prices overall wasn't gouging, but I would bet there were isolated pockets. In fact, I know that one station was trying to sell for quite a bit over $5, but they were reported and quickly fixed it. Good, that's where the "system" works as it should.

The lesson: plan ahead and don't panic. This is a lesson we've increasingly forgotten in this country and we should bring it back. My 3 Laws for Living:
1. Pay attention
2. Slow down
3. Think about it

Next time something bad happens, try that. I'll try to keep the kneejerk Tweets to a minimum as well!

First Friday tonight, 'mater tastin' tomorrow

2008-08-01T09:58:00.002-04:00

So there's the long-running "First Friday" downtown tonight, but I'm all giddy about the tomato tasting tomorrow at Market Square. In case y'all don't know, our region is blessed with some mighty fine tomato-growing conditions (soil, weather, etc.). Plus, you might have noticed the local tomato situation was mostly unaffected by the "tomato scare of 08" because we know precisely where our 'maters come from!

Anyway, tomorrow at Market Square you'll be able to vote on your favorite tomatoes from 10am-2pm in Market Square, where each Saturday they have been setting up a farmer's market. I love tomatoes, and love the variety you see from the dedicated farmers who keep heirloom seeds propagating in their fields.

Thanks farmers and thanks Market Square association!

Start tipping Sonic carhops-- in cash

2008-07-18T10:10:00.002-04:00

I just learned Sonic, apparently in an effort to avoid the minimum wage increase, will start paying newly-hired carhops (the folks who bring your food to the car) a meager $3.15 an hour, or whatever your typical server gets. You know, at places like P.F. Chang's or Nama, where they rely on tips to make a living wage. Although that is also arguable.

What isn't arguable is that Sonic is about to skirt the system and grossly underpay American citizens trying to work. When's the last time you tipped a Sonic carhop? Better yet, Sonic doesn't yet support tipping on the computers at their stores. So you'll have to bring some cash if you're going to tip. That is, if they had told you you're supposed to. From what I'm hearing, they aren't going to change the machines, either.

All this while we fret and worry about Belgium buying Budweiser.

Fountain City Connections

2008-06-16T20:03:00.003-04:00

I notice there's a proposal to require new buildings to include sidewalks. Naturally, developers balk at the cost. This is natural, as no one wants to incur more cost. Unfortunately, with the price of gas on the rise, we could future-proof our city with just such a requirement. This becomes an appealing talking point when evangelizing Knoxville as a place to settle down (tax base, hello!).

Anyway, from the Knoxville News Sentinel article I discovered a group in my neck of the woods who appear to be spearheading the initiative: Fountain City Connections. I missed the last meeting but hope to make it to the next one!

UPDATE: Looks like urbanism is coming back in style.

NYT at Bonnaroo

2008-06-13T14:45:00.002-04:00

Still feeling the love for our region, David Carr of the New York Times is covering Bonnaroo for ArtsBeat.

NYT Loves 'em some Knoxville!

2008-06-12T14:09:00.003-04:00

I'm going to start posting more stuff on my Tumblr blog, or at least the cool Knoxville-related items with a mix of personal stuff. But I posted this on Tumblr and forgot to share:

36 Hours in Knoxville

Help save the Dept. of Audiology and Speech Pathology at UT

2008-06-10T10:18:00.004-04:00

Our state is staring down the barrel of a big budget cutback, and this is one of the lambs on the block. Take a moment to read this moving post about the situation and consider contacting the governor and UT board about the issue.

I realize there's no saving everything, but I would think that, in this region, we should put a higher price on the ability of our citizens to speak and hear correctly.

UPDATE: While the battle for the building appears to have been won, the larger battle for the department continues. WBIR has more.

Community Supported Agriculture

2008-05-21T00:08:00.002-04:00

How would you like to get fresh veggies monthly while supporting local farmers? No, Harry & David this isn't-- those fruits are flown in from around the world and shipped in extravagant containers. I went looking for some CSA's near Knoxville and found only one. CSA stands for community-supported agriculture, and I really hope the idea catches on. Essentially you can "buy in" to a farmer's haul for a season, and pick up your portion at regular intervals.

LocalHarvest located one CSA farm near Knoxville: Green Man Farm. I think I actually bought some butter lettuce from them this past week on my trip to the Market Square Farmer's Market. Looks like you could have bought in to this year's crop and picked up 25 weeks of produce for as little as $400 for the year. Think about how much you spend on groceries per month!

I know some restaurants, like La Costa, source their food somewhat locally, but doing this in an easy way for the average consumer could really be a cool thing. As food (and transport!) costs go up, it'll be one way of coping. Couple it with a modern-day Victory gardens and we could be looking at an agricultural renaissance.

Staying alive on a bike in Knoxville

2008-04-29T13:42:00.002-04:00

My first year out of UT I lived in a nice house just a mile away from the big Kay's Ice Cream in South Knoxville (the one with the big ice cream cone on Chapman Hwy). From there, one of my roommates would bike his way to campus each day. Noah wasn't afraid to bend the rules of the road, like biking on the sidewalk as he crossed the bridge. But then, Noah was known to do a little graffiti back in the day...

Anyway, Patrick Beeson has a revelatory guide to commuting via bike on his blog. It certainly helps that he is 2.5 miles from work, but I wonder if our greenways or side streets help others bike to work? I'm hopeful our country will someday make bike traffic more user-friendly, like Holland. Perhaps when gas hits $10 a gallon?

Bloggity Boom

2008-04-11T09:09:00.003-04:00

In the past couple of weeks I've been able to track down quite a few bloggers and work-at-home types, all of whom are creating these amazing content gardens all over Knoxville. One caught my eye: Knoxify, an incredibly well-done blog by Casey Peters and Brandon Clarke. From there I found Instaknox, a local version of Twitter (basically), and Knoxd, which looks an awful lot like one of the Alltop sites.

I really think localized versions of these larger services is where it's at, and while I'm sure there's plenty of this elsewhere, I can't express how fantastic it is to see such effort here in Knoxville. Just a month ago I was worrying aloud about the vivacity of our local creative and techy populace. Turns out I just don't get around much!

Well, we are SO having some big ol' meetup. Don't know where, how, when or what shape it'll take (social event or barcamp? panels or keynotes?)